Toyota Avalon

Car and Driver

Tested: two thousand thirteen Toyota Avalon XLE

2016 Toyota Avalon Hybrid

Mar 2016

By TONY SWAN

Photography By MICHAEL SIMARI

Whereas hybrid powertrains are relatively common among mid-size family sedans (including the Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, and even the latest Chevrolet Malibu), go up one level and they’re all of a sudden very hard to find. There’s no hybrid version of the Ford Taurus, the Dodge Charger, the Chevrolet Impala, or the Nissan Maxima. The Buick LaCrosse offers the “eAssist” mild-hybrid powertrain (for now—a fresh LaCrosse is on its way for 2017), but only the Toyota Avalon comes as a utter hybrid version. Other large hybrid sedans are restricted to luxury nameplates.

Leave it to Toyota to suggest a hybrid where other automakers do not. After all, the company’s Hybrid Synergy Drive is available in fourteen different U.S. models (six with Lexus nameplates, eight badged as Toyotas) and forty different vehicles worldwide. The technology in the Avalon is standard Toyota hybrid fare: a gasoline engine—in this case a Two.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder—augmented by an electrical motor, which makes the car capable of traveling brief distances (very brief distances) at low speeds (under twenty mph) using only electrified power. The nickel-metal-hydride battery pack resides behind the rear seats, which reduces trunk space from sixteen to fourteen cubic feet. The battery pack is replenished by regenerative braking and by the smaller of the two electrical motors, which also acts as the starter motor for the gas engine and sets the drive ratio inbetween the engine and the wheels. The engine has an auto stop-start feature, too.

The net result is forty mpg city and thirty nine mpg highway, according to the EPA—not bad for a 3635-pound sedan. You will very likely not be astonished to learn that in our test, fuel economy didn’t fairly measure up to the agency’s forecast. We logged thirty mpg in mostly freeway driving—brisk freeway driving—that included a 500-mile round excursion to Chicago.

XLE Plus

The only visual distinction inbetween the two thousand fifteen and two thousand sixteen Avalon is a fresh grille and fresh headlights. Then again, the Avalon didn’t indeed need much refreshing; its edgy good looks still stand out in the relatively conservative full-size-car corral. For 2016, the Avalon also adds a fresh trim level—XLE Plus—between XLE and XLE Premium. Basically it brings a little more standard feature content, and it becomes the fresh base model for the hybrid version.

For this money, you might reasonably expect some high-tech safety features such as blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert to be part of the deal, but no dice. You might also expect adaptive cruise control, premium audio, and navigation. To be fair, the Entune audio system permits the driver to link navigation from a smartphone to the car’s touchscreen display.

“Hushed and Plush”

Toyota’s description of the Avalon interior as it cruises through the vicissitudes of daily traffic—“hushed and plush”—is an accurate characterization. Albeit it is in no way ostentatious, the Avalon’s roomy interior is handsomely appointed, the seats—front and rear—are long-haul comfy, the electronic instrumentation is attractively legible, the understated décor is enhanced by excellent materials, and interior noise levels are Lexus low.

Assessed as a tasteful living room on wheels, the Avalon measures up well. It’s comfy, quiet, and capable of astounding fuel economy—presuming an proprietor would drive in such a way as to exploit its hybrid powertrain. In the Touring model, with its conventional V-6 powertrain, Toyota offers “sporty suspension tuning” that emphasizes the Avalon’s structural rigidity. But the Hybrid’s three trim levels don’t include the Touring spec, and the suspension is tuned to the soft side of the hush-and-plush equation. As a consequence, there’s a fair amount of bod roll in vigorous cornering, the car denies to be hurried when switching direction, and understeer progresses from mild to mulish—albeit with absolute predictability. The steering is vague and overassisted at low speeds, and the powertrain’s Sport mode—a near-oxymoron in this application—doesn’t produce a tangible difference. Considered in terms of driver engagement, the hybrid is a ho-hum practice.

Rolling on a set of Michelin Primacy MXV4 all-season tires, the Avalon posted so-so skidpad spectacle (0.79 g), and the same can be said for its braking distance: one hundred seventy eight feet from seventy mph. However, that sort of stopping distance is not uncommon among large sedans, and the brakes were fade-free.

This isn’t a spectacle hybrid, conceived to supply grunt that tops the standard model. Whereas the V-6 car produces two hundred sixty eight horsepower, total power of the hybrid system is two hundred (Toyota doesn’t rate peak system torque). Output is funneled to the front wheels via a continuously variable automatic transmission consisting of a planetary gearset. With the system providing all it’s got to give, the hybrid sprints to sixty mph in 7.Four seconds—1.Trio seconds behind the zero-to-60-mph run we recorded in our test of a two thousand thirteen Avalon model with the standard Three.5-liter V-6.

Hybrid Motivation

But calling for all the ponies is the antithesis of exploiting the hybrid system. The fun-to-drive element in this car comes from monitoring the various elements of the Hybrid Synergy Drive—mpg, battery state, regeneration, etc.—all tracked on a display in the space normally occupied by a tachometer.

The price premium for the hybrid versus the regular XLE Plus is $2250. How long it would take to recoup that amount in terms of fuel saved would obviously depend on how effectively the holder utilizes the hybrid capabilities. Not to mention the (likely volatile) price of gasoline over the years of ownership. But if a hybrid makes sense for you—or even just appeals to your greener tendencies—and you’re looking for a sedan that’s a cut (and size) above the Camry but not too extravagant, the Avalon is your one and only choice.

Toyota Avalon

Car and Driver

Tested: two thousand thirteen Toyota Avalon XLE

2016 Toyota Avalon Hybrid

Mar 2016

By TONY SWAN

Photography By MICHAEL SIMARI

Whereas hybrid powertrains are relatively common among mid-size family sedans (including the Toyota Camry, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, and even the latest Chevrolet Malibu), go up one level and they’re all of a sudden very hard to find. There’s no hybrid version of the Ford Taurus, the Dodge Charger, the Chevrolet Impala, or the Nissan Maxima. The Buick LaCrosse offers the “eAssist” mild-hybrid powertrain (for now—a fresh LaCrosse is on its way for 2017), but only the Toyota Avalon comes as a utter hybrid version. Other large hybrid sedans are restricted to luxury nameplates.

Leave it to Toyota to suggest a hybrid where other automakers do not. After all, the company’s Hybrid Synergy Drive is available in fourteen different U.S. models (six with Lexus nameplates, eight badged as Toyotas) and forty different vehicles worldwide. The technology in the Avalon is standard Toyota hybrid fare: a gasoline engine—in this case a Two.5-liter Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder—augmented by an electrified motor, which makes the car capable of traveling brief distances (very brief distances) at low speeds (under twenty mph) using only electrified power. The nickel-metal-hydride battery pack resides behind the rear seats, which reduces trunk space from sixteen to fourteen cubic feet. The battery pack is replenished by regenerative braking and by the smaller of the two electrified motors, which also acts as the starter motor for the gas engine and sets the drive ratio inbetween the engine and the wheels. The engine has an auto stop-start feature, too.

The net result is forty mpg city and thirty nine mpg highway, according to the EPA—not bad for a 3635-pound sedan. You will very likely not be astonished to learn that in our test, fuel economy didn’t fairly measure up to the agency’s forecast. We logged thirty mpg in mostly freeway driving—brisk freeway driving—that included a 500-mile round tour to Chicago.

XLE Plus

The only visual distinction inbetween the two thousand fifteen and two thousand sixteen Avalon is a fresh grille and fresh headlights. Then again, the Avalon didn’t indeed need much refreshing; its edgy good looks still stand out in the relatively conservative full-size-car corral. For 2016, the Avalon also adds a fresh trim level—XLE Plus—between XLE and XLE Premium. Basically it brings a little more standard feature content, and it becomes the fresh base model for the hybrid version.

For this money, you might reasonably expect some high-tech safety features such as blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert to be part of the deal, but no dice. You might also expect adaptive cruise control, premium audio, and navigation. To be fair, the Entune audio system permits the driver to link navigation from a smartphone to the car’s touchscreen display.

“Hushed and Plush”

Toyota’s description of the Avalon interior as it cruises through the vicissitudes of daily traffic—“hushed and plush”—is an accurate characterization. Albeit it is in no way ostentatious, the Avalon’s roomy interior is handsomely appointed, the seats—front and rear—are long-haul convenient, the electronic instrumentation is attractively legible, the understated décor is enhanced by excellent materials, and interior noise levels are Lexus low.

Assessed as a tasteful living room on wheels, the Avalon measures up well. It’s comfy, quiet, and capable of extraordinaire fuel economy—presuming an proprietor would drive in such a way as to exploit its hybrid powertrain. In the Touring model, with its conventional V-6 powertrain, Toyota offers “sporty suspension tuning” that emphasizes the Avalon’s structural rigidity. But the Hybrid’s three trim levels don’t include the Touring spec, and the suspension is tuned to the soft side of the hush-and-plush equation. As a consequence, there’s a fair amount of bod roll in vigorous cornering, the car rejects to be hurried when switching direction, and understeer progresses from mild to mulish—albeit with absolute predictability. The steering is vague and overassisted at low speeds, and the powertrain’s Sport mode—a near-oxymoron in this application—doesn’t produce a tangible difference. Considered in terms of driver engagement, the hybrid is a ho-hum practice.

Rolling on a set of Michelin Primacy MXV4 all-season tires, the Avalon posted so-so skidpad spectacle (0.79 g), and the same can be said for its braking distance: one hundred seventy eight feet from seventy mph. However, that sort of stopping distance is not uncommon among large sedans, and the brakes were fade-free.

This isn’t a spectacle hybrid, conceived to produce grunt that tops the standard model. Whereas the V-6 car produces two hundred sixty eight horsepower, total power of the hybrid system is two hundred (Toyota doesn’t rate peak system torque). Output is funneled to the front wheels via a continuously variable automatic transmission consisting of a planetary gearset. With the system providing all it’s got to give, the hybrid sprints to sixty mph in 7.Four seconds—1.Trio seconds behind the zero-to-60-mph run we recorded in our test of a two thousand thirteen Avalon model with the standard Three.5-liter V-6.

Hybrid Motivation

But calling for all the ponies is the antithesis of exploiting the hybrid system. The fun-to-drive element in this car comes from monitoring the various elements of the Hybrid Synergy Drive—mpg, battery state, regeneration, etc.—all tracked on a display in the space normally occupied by a tachometer.

The price premium for the hybrid versus the regular XLE Plus is $2250. How long it would take to recoup that amount in terms of fuel saved would obviously depend on how effectively the possessor utilizes the hybrid capabilities. Not to mention the (likely volatile) price of gasoline over the years of ownership. But if a hybrid makes sense for you—or even just appeals to your greener tendencies—and you’re looking for a sedan that’s a cut (and size) above the Camry but not too extravagant, the Avalon is your one and only choice.